Alternative Ways of Organising: Asian Labour’s Response to the new Globalisation

By Donella Caspersz and Michelle Ford (introduction)

The commitment of Asian governments to export-driven economic growth has serious implications for labour.

Exchange controls, guarantees concerning repatriation of investment, taxation and general industry assistance schemes to attract investment are complemented by restrictions on freedom of association, collective bargaining and the right to strike.

Collective resistance is difficult to co-ordinate and organise under these oppressive conditions. However the contributors to this symposium show that the repression has not been able to eliminate labour's capacity for resistance. Rather it has encouraged new forms of organising and links between various groups in the communities. These include use of drama, music and the arts by unions and groups involved with labour. Also there has been a greater recognition of the role of non-union organisations in mobilising workers and the formation of alliances between unions and others to pursue rights. The linkage between groups such as the International Confederation of Free trade Unions (ICFTU), national bodies such as Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation), union solidarity organisations such as the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS) and the anti-sweatshop movement show that such broad strategies reach across national boundaries.

In "The Global Strategies and Employment Relations Practices of the Hyundai Motor Company in Korea and India", Russell Lansbury, William Purcell, Chungsok Suh and Seung-Ho Kwon look at the "relaunch' of Hyundai as a global brand in 1998 as they began to operate a new plant in Chennai, India. They argue that Hyundai sought to establish union free sites in India after the militancy of unions in Korea. They argue that Hyundai's strategy will be self-defeating if they really want to be successful in high value added manufacturing.

Chen-Yen Ku, in "The Prospects of Employee Participation in State-owned Enterprises: lessons from the case of Chungwa Telecom Co in Taiwan" offers a more optimistic vie of the prospects for employee participation at the privatised telecom. The trend for democratisation that has accompanied Taiwan's entry into the global marketplace has served to weaken the authoritarian government's hold over unions and industrial relations practices. Privatisation is often seen as a way to weaken unions, but in this case the unions have used the opportunity provided by the company Labour-Management Committee to strengthen their position.

Kaye Broadbent examines women-only unions in "Sisters Organising For Themselves: An exploration of Women-Only Unions in Japan and South Korea". Women have a long history of unionisation in these countries but it has only been with the establishment of women-only unions that they have been seen as creative actors rather than passive recipients of male union strategies.

Caspersz makes similar observations on the weaknesses of traditional unions in "Asian Women and Agency: their voices". She looks at the responses of Asian members of the Southern Initiative on Globalization and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR) women's forum to export oriented industrialisation regimes. An alternative approach by women workers' in Sri Lanka is described.

In "Union Strategies in the Sri Lankan Tea Plantations: rediscovering the Movement Dimension", Janeka Biyanwila examines union responses to non-union forms of organising. Unions have to rediscover their social movement dimension if they are to face the challenges of deregulation and privatisation. Unions at the tea plantations seem antagonistic to NGOs.

Vicki Crinis also focuses on female dominated industries in "Innovations in Trade Union Approaches in Malaysia's Garment Industry". She explores the context in which NGOs have become involved in labour organisation and advocacy work, and union responses to that involvement - noting that government policy, the pressures of globalisation, and unions' failure to accommodate the interests of women workers meant that for much of the 1990s feminist NGOs were the obnly organisations that acted on behalf of female garment workers. Unions way be beginning to broaden their approach now.

Michelle Ford argues in "Substitute Trade Union or Novel Form of Labour Movement Organisation? Understanding Indonesia's Labour NGOs, that labour NGOs should not just be considered as catalysts for union reform, but as legitimate labour movement organisations. To fully understand the contribution of labour NGOs, studies must advance beyond union-NGO cooperation, union adoption of NGO techniques, and NGO promotion of unionism to examine the role non-union organisations have played within the labour movement in their own right.

(Economic and Labour Relations Review. vol. 14, no. 1 June 2003)